Guest Opinion: Can the Fall River Fire Department operate with 153 firefighters?

Can the Fall River Fire Department operate with 153 firefighters? Of course it can. However, the more important question would be, “At what cost?” If I may, allow me to offer my opinion, one gained by actually being the only fire chief forced to operate the department at that manning level to date.

Can the Fall River Fire Department operate with 153 firefighters? Of course it can. However, the more important question would be, “At what cost?” If I may, allow me to offer my opinion, one gained by actually being the only fire chief forced to operate the department at that manning level to date.

In early 2009, the governor saw fit to drastically reduce the local aide to various communities nearly three quarters of the way through the fiscal year. With that news, then Mayor Robert Correira had to make a decision in five seconds (figuratively speaking). The city’s anticipated aide was cut by millions of dollars with just three months of the fiscal year left. Extreme cuts were necessary and the Fire Department went from 216 budgeted positions to 153 budgeted positions. Many other departments experienced the same fate.

Now it’s 2014, and the city administration has had literally five years to anticipate and prepare for this day, yet the solution is the same as when the city was taken by surprise: reduce the FRED to 153 firefighters. The real question is why are we here again, with absolutely no improvement in the city’s capacity to properly fund an adequate fire department?

Can the fire department operate with 153 firefighters? As I said in the beginning, of course it can. But at what cost? The fire department is much like an insurance policy for the citizens. You hope you never need them, but when you do they are there, at the ready, responding quickly, in appropriate numbers, prepared to take your problem and make it their problem. Have a fire in your house, they respond and put it out. Have a heart attack and you’ll get help with that too. Become trapped in your automobile, critically injured following an accident and they care for you and get you out. Whatever they need to do, whenever they need to do it, they will work exhaustively until your worst day is made better.

Much like an insurance policy, there are ways to save money too. If you have an automobile policy and you raise your deductible and lower your limits of coverage, you can save money. However, you assume more risk. Have a small accident and you’re responsible for the increased deductible. Have a major accident and the lowered liability limits will leave you owing someone for years to come. If you suspend your life insurance you can save money. However, you take on a level of risk, and if you do die your family will pay for that instant savings many times over with the loss of the financial protection that policy would have provided.

Like any insurance coverage, the city administration needs to determine what level of risk is acceptable to the citizens of Fall River. Actually, the citizens need to determine what level of risk they are comfortable with. The statistics are clear in the area of fire service protection. Reduce the manning levels on each apparatus and the injury rates for those remaining firefighters skyrocket.

Page 2 of 2 - The Providence Fire Department did a study which clearly showed the increase in both the injury rates and the severity of injuries as apparatus manning levels dropped. Statistics also demonstrate that reduced and delayed responses result in increased property damage and increased civilian injuries and deaths. The National Fire Protection Agency considers these areas so critical they mandate a minimum of four firefighters per apparatus. They also require the first four firefighters arrive on scene in four minutes and the full first alarm assignment arrives in eight minutes. When the FRFD operates with 153 firefighters it is unlikely these requirements will be met. The citizens of Fall River, including my parents and those of my wife, will be placed in greater risk. The businesses of Fall River will assume a greater level of risk. And the Fall River firefighters will also be placed in greater risk.

In closing, let me reiterate. Yes, the department did operate with 153 firefighters. It was an emergency stop-gap measure to a surprise budget reduction initiated at the state level. Today’s problems have not taken the city by surprise. If that’s the city, then someone was asleep at the wheel. The city and the FRFD need a reasonable solution to a long term problem, not a simple cutting of personnel and increasing the risk to all.

Paul D. Ford is the Brookline fire chief. He was a 28-year member of the Fall River Fire Department and its chief until 2012.